Post by Kiko on Jul 4, 2012 7:07:14 GMT -5

Kiko went straight back toward the carriage horses. She sliced them free of the harness in the hopes of further panicking the others. A quick slap to their rumps sent them squealing and milling around. She heard arrows thudding this way and that, but it did not stop her. She really had no time to make a extensive battle plan, either.

No, this was a hit and run. The thudding of hooves pounded up beside her and Kiko ripped the katana from her shoulder harness to hit the next mounted archer while he was trying to avoid the near certain collision. She heard a shout and the other horse was suddenly yanked to one side his rider dragging the dirt.

Post by Chaz on Jul 4, 2012 22:32:45 GMT -5

Chaz took in a deep breath, hugging Nikole to him.

Don't look, kitten.

With that, he kicked open the door, lowering the flamer and letting out a large spray of fire.With a loud exploding noise, a fireball launched over the people surrounding the carriage, and Chaz made a low sweep, belching the flame over an arc as he backed up around the carriage.

Go! Go! Kiko, we're going!

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.

Post by Dominic on Jul 5, 2012 5:39:02 GMT -5

The sheer wall of heat took him aback, but Dom wasn't going to hang about. Smoke billowed and men screamed and that was the chance. "C'mon Chaz! Into the smoke! Close your eyes, hold your breath and grab on!"

He took his own advice, but having his eyes closed wasn't as much of a hindrance as it might be for others. He made sure Chaz had the back of his coat, sweeping the tip of his blade along the floor to check for tripping hazards and shuffling along in his loose gait. The smoke was cloying, the confusion around him making his echolocation difficult to use. Dammit, they were going to figure the smoke was a cover soon.

He heard one man groaning on the floor ahead and his heart stopped. The guy was probably burned badly, if the oddly bacon-like smell of charred flesh was any indication. But if he spotted them he'd call an alarm most likely. Dom appeared through the smoke before the man, thrusting the tip of his staff at just below where the moans were coming from. The razor sharp steel glided into the throat of the downed man and he gurgled piteously, silenced. Dom could spare no more thought to the man. They had to get to the treeline.

Post by Kiko on Jul 5, 2012 9:11:27 GMT -5

Kiko heard the shout. But, she was already headed for the next enemy. She never made it there. The arcing sheet of flame hit before she managed to go two feet and set off chaos. There was no need to dodge arrows. The archers had given up trying to shoot them down in favor of surviving the conflagration and staying on their mounts.

Kiko slid off the back of her horse. She considered keeping it with the loss of the carriage, if for nothing else but to carry gear. However, the animal was just as panicked as the rest of its mates. She did not need it that badly.

The other archers would eventually come back. The fire was sure to be seen. Kiko yanked the gear free of the carriage and headed toward the trees as swiftly and as silently as possible. Kiko did not relish spending the rest of the night in the middle of a forest full of fog shrouded trees being hunted by packs of archers. But, the alternative of being captured by them was worse. Chaz had been very quick with his response. Very quick and very deadly.

Post by Chaz on Jul 6, 2012 9:37:45 GMT -5

His goggles protected his eyes somewhat, but nothing could stop the shock of the screams and smell he realized was burning flesh. He was horrified at his own actions, not even sure what he'd been thinking...but it had to be done, right? Holding his daughter to his chest, he slung the flamer to his back, still trailing boiling fuel. He grabbed Dom's coat, following him into the forest.

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.

Post by Dominic on Jul 7, 2012 9:25:35 GMT -5

Dom moved as swiftly as he dared, feeling the smoke billowing around, moving away from the sounds of confused and angry men. If those archers caught them in the open they'd be shot down in seconds. He felt sick, heart hammering, terror powering him almost as much as a strange indignation.

How dare they! How dare they come for a peace loving man and his innocent child. If he'd just been afraid he'd probably have frozen, but now they done gone pissed him off and it was an effort of will not to give in to those feelings and give his new svardstav a second test. He found the lee of a tree and pulled Chaz around behind it. "Get in cover and do...whatever it was you just did...to anyone who isn't me or Kiko."

He couldn't sneak around, not really, even with the covering smoke. What he needed to do was sow some more confusion. So he took the deepest breath he could and projected his voice out, hoping to bounce it off the trees and make it a little less easy to pinpoint by. He bellowed in his best Drow "It's a fire mage! They're both fire mages! And there's more men coming!"

With Kiko cutting swaths through them and a huge gout of flame having exploded out, he hoped beyond all hope that their resolve was shaken and their morale was low enough that they'd flee.

Post by Kiko on Jul 9, 2012 11:00:26 GMT -5

Kiko heard Dom's shout. Hell, everyone within a radius of a thousand yards could hear him. And she thought his voice projection during a song or tale was good, this was better. The Bard was a smart man. For now his distraction seemed to be working.

She had cut down two more archers that had gotten thrown from their mounts and disoriented by the smoke while bugging out. A throwing knife to the throat, and rapid slashes of her katana had taken their lives. She had stopped only to search their clothing. She didn't expect anything of it, and in that she was correct. They had nothing on them beyond what gear she could see and a few coins. Nothing that might give her a clue as to why this attack occurred here, or by who.

When she finally caught up to Dominic and Chaz her eyes were red rimmed and weary from the smoke, the ends of her hair were charred and crisp, and her clothing was liberally splattered with blood, dirt, and gore.

Post by Grayell on Jul 11, 2012 9:34:57 GMT -5

(Just wanting to point out POLITELY that this thread is over three weeks old and only has three pages and seemingly, not a lot of GM direction. Just an observation. You might want to recalibrate your intended plot and pick it up some )

Post by Chaz on Jul 11, 2012 10:13:32 GMT -5

(Mostly it's me being busy lately and Dom having a limited posting schedule. Overwood has direction in that I know where I want it to end, but not the journey from point A to B. Kiko seemed to have a good idea of an event for the in-between, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let her have the reigns for the moment.)

They left the smoke and the chaos behind, Chaz panicking a little as Kiko caught up with them, stopping for a moment and looking back to the conflagration. The forest obscured them, the fog and the smoke helping matters. He tried to stop his ragged, panting breathing as he looked from the distant carriage to his companions.

Okay, Okay...none of us could have known that would happen. Is everyone okay? He set Nikole down gently, looking her over before looking to the others with a bit of guilt.

Look, we're...not that far from Fennen. A few days. Once we get there, we're safe. They wouldn't dare try anything there. From there you can head back home, and I can go back when I'm done. I shouldn't have gotten you into this.He wiped his face.

Are you...all okay?

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.

Post by Dominic on Jul 11, 2012 11:18:43 GMT -5

Dom did not feel even slightly okay. That much of a response from those yahoos who had it in for Chaz showed just how serious they'd been. He'd taken another life too, but he didn't feel nearly as bad about that as he might have done before. He took a scrap of cloth from a pocket and cleaned his blade of blood before tossing the rag aside and sliding the sharp edge away by pushing it against a tree branch.

He tried to speak, but when he did all that came up was hacking coughs. When he'd taken the breath he hadn't realised how much smoke he'd draw in. Then he'd emptied his lungs of air to blast his voice out. Now he felt weak, his breathing was raspy and his hearing was going tinny.

He pulled another bit of rag from a pocket, fumbled at his belt and pulled a vial of curative potion from its holder. He slumped against the tree, popping off the stopper and pouring about half of the vial into the rag before tipping the rest into his mouth. He gargled it, swished it in his mouth and swallowed, then brought the rag to his mouth and nose, inhaling deeply as his hand warmed the potion.

Between breaths he rasped "I'll be fine, we better move." before righting himself, keeping the cloth to his face. He wasn't a healer of any sort, but he'd heard that inhaling vapours could speed the effect of certain substances. He'd even inhaled a few vapours for varying effects before now, but never a curative. Well, at least he'd drunk some of it, as directed.

Post by Kiko on Jul 11, 2012 13:04:29 GMT -5

Kiko looked at Chaz.

"None of us?"

Her tone said otherwise, her eyes when she found his face said otherwise. She had already cleaned her weapons and stowed them away. She was trying to blink her eyes clear of the dissipating smoke. For a few seconds she continued to focus on Chaz or attempt it. Then she turned abruptly around.

"You are not fine, Bard. Here."

Kiko had not resorted to any of her healing potions. She was not hurt only burned, and that was not badly. She had not been under Chaz's fire belching weapon. Where the hell did he get that? And the archers had not expected her to attack them. She had somehow managed to come out of that battle utterly unscathed.

Why?

The archers could have killed them. They had divided their forces to block the road instead. Which meant they had not wanted witnesses. It was the only thing that made sense. And if she followed that logical thought, there was another one right behind that. They had intended to capture not kill.

Kiko rubbed at her watery eyes and tapped Dominic on the shoulder. She offered him the vial of healing fluid without saying anything more. She did not take the thought of capture well.

Post by Chaz on Jul 12, 2012 19:27:00 GMT -5

The understated condemnation drained the life from him. Of course he knew something like this might happen. He didn't know what to really say, putting the flamer on his back and turning towards the south, a bit ashamed.

I swear I'll make this up to you. Both of you. His face burned red, heart ticking quickly.

We're already halfway there. That's all the farther you have to follow.

Almost reluctantly, he gave them another look, and took Nikole's hand, voice brimming with guilt.

Dom's right. We should keep moving. If...you're okay. Are you good to walk?

(I'm just going to move this ahead to town if no one objects. Gray's right, it has been running a bit longer than I'd intended.)

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible.

Post by Grayell on Jul 15, 2012 0:35:34 GMT -5

(With Chaz having retired I will leave this thread entirely up to you two as to what you would like to do. If you would like a GM to roll this into some manner of quest you can both complete, please let me know and I will assail you with all manner of Drow nastiness!)

Post by Grayell on Jul 16, 2012 9:06:00 GMT -5

(Chaz shall be written out promptly and courteously.)

Our four intrepid adventurers carried on on foot for quite some time, making their way deeper into the terrible lands that made up the Overwood. A hostile place filled with hostile creatures, they were plagued with all manner of eerie noises - jibbering and howling, cackling and hissing; with nary a being in sight. It was unnerving to say the very least.

But as the day grew old and night threatened to fall on the already dark depths of the Overwood, a group of riders could be heard to approach the group. Immediately ahead, upon the path they now walked down; with no effort to hide their approach.

They were but shadows in the distance presently, but moving at a quick clip toward the group.